The Great Adventures Of Cornecat
by Nefastraven
Summary: Cornelius and the Black Cat go on a date. Written for a literature assignment. Disclaimer: 110%not plagiarized


As Cornelius walked into The Cat's Whiskers, a local cat cafe, he wondered if his date would actually show up.

After the untimely death of his wife, he shut himself away from the world, becoming an internet recluse. He remained in this state for weeks, moping in his room and eating industrial-sized ice cream tubs, until his friends decided to stage an intervention. They tried to get him out of his funk by setting him up with people.

After their many failed attempts at setting Cornelius up with dates, he decided to take his fate into his own hands. He signed up for a blind dating website, and after several days of deleting tasteless hookup requests from his mailbox, he was left with one potential date, the mysterious xXNekoSen3.14Xx.

* * *

Cornelius was shaken from his thoughts when a waitress came by to show him to his table.

"Hi, my name is Tessie," she said cheerfully. "I'll be your waitress today! Here's your menu."

"Thank you," he replied as the waitress skipped away.

As he was perusing the menu, he heard the doorbell chime. A cat had walked into the cafe through the cat door. Its nametag said 'Pluto', a rather fitting name for such a black cat.

Cornelius watched in surprise as it approached his table and jumped into the opposing chair.

"Why, hello there, Mr. Cat," Cornelius said, smiling sadly. "I believe my date is not going to show up today. Would you mind keeping me company for a while?"

The cat stared back at him before settling down on the chair. It began to groom itself. Cornelius took that as acceptance, so he called Tessie to order food for himself and his new companion.

About twelve minutes later, after Cornelius had just finished his tuna salad, the cat got up and jumped off the chair. It padded over to the door and stared back at Cornelius, as if it was waiting for him. Cornelius quickly paid their tab and went to the door, letting the cat out and following it down the streets.

"Where are you going?" Cornelius inquired, as they were walking. Pluto looked back, as if to say, "I'm a cat. What are you expecting from me, you peon?" before continuing onwards into the dark. Cornelius sighed and continued down the path, before noticing that they were no longer on the sidewalk. They had entered a dense forest.

At this point, Cornelius began to be a bit suspicious, as it seemed that the cat was just wandering aimlessly.

"Er. I believe I should be going now, Mister Pluto. Good day. Night. Something." he said as he began to back away. At that moment, however, a horn sounded in the background and dogs began to bay.

"I changed my mind. Please hurry!" Cornelius wailed as he ran after the black cat.

* * *

Moments later, General Zaroff charged into the area, followed by a small army of hunting dogs.

"I, General Zaroff, have come to claim victory by feeding you to my-" He paused to look around, and realized that nobody was in the area.

"Curse you, mysterious person! You will fall prey to me one day!" He shouted. Yet another failed hunt. Zaroff was never the same after his stint in the tropics and his defeat at the hands of Rainsford.

The hounds were getting hungrier by the day, and this was the last straw. Acting as one, they turned and surrounded the General.

Now, Zaroff would come to know the trapped, cornered feeling of being the prey of the hunt.

* * *

After running quickly for a seemingly long time, Cornelius was out of breath by the time the cat stopped. He looked up, panting. Bright lights and cheerful sounds greeted him, coming from the stalls dotting the clearing.

"So this is where you wanted to go! This was worth the walk." Cornelius smiled before taking the lead as they walked towards the festival in front of them.

After getting in for free because of the terrible security, Cornelius and Pluto wandered the carnival, playing terribly-rigged games and eating snacks. There was one game where players attempted to catch small fish in paper nets. Players were allowed to keep any fish they caught before their net broke completely. Cornelius managed to catch a couple of tiny goldfish before the black cat decided to jump into the kiddie pool and terrorize the fish.

Several minutes later, Cornelius walked away from the stall with a dripping wet but smug cat.

"Well, that was fun," Cornelius said as the black cat attempted to shake the water off itself. "It's a pity that we were banned from returning. What should we do now?" he asked.

Pluto started running towards the ferris wheel, drawn by an enticing scent.

"I guess we're going over there now," Cornelius said as he followed the cat to the ferris wheel. They managed to get into a carriage for free with the tickets that Pluto had discovered while rolling in a patch of catnip in front of the gates.

"Look at the view!" Cornelius exclaimed. It was truly magnificent. The crescent moon illuminated the sprawling lines of stalls, creating the illusion of a small city.

Suddenly, the wheel came to an abrupt stop, and Pluto jumped up onto Cornelius, his claws digging into the man's thigh. Cornelius let out a gasp.

"Ow! What's wrong? Did the stop scare you?" he fretted, petting the cat's back until he calmed. Pluto purred and rubbed up against his palm. Cornelius blushed. It seemed that the cat had accepted him fully at last.

Just then, with a loud creak, the ferris wheel began to move again. The peaceful moment was broken, and when they finally got off Cornelius bid the black cat farewell before he began heading home.

* * *

Cornelius wondered if Pluto would show up again as he walked into the cafe again. He grabbed a menu from the counter and waved away the waitress, heading for the table he had shared with Pluto the night before. He heard the chair opposite of him move. He looked up, hoping to see Pluto, but only saw a pasty middle aged white man.

"Hello, Cornelius" the man greeted with a grin.

"Oh, hello. Who might you be exactly?" he asked putting the menu down.

"My name is Kevin Howard. I was supposed to be your date, but I got the time wrong," he answered. "I apologize for any trouble I may have caused you."

Cornelius nodded slowly, secretly happy with how things had actually turned out. Pluto was much cuter than this imbecile. They engaged in some light banter, and he discovered that Kevin could be quite charismatic at times.

"Would you mind accompanying me outside?" Kevin asked, standing up.

"Not at all," Cornelius replied, following him out the door. Actually, he did mind, but he felt bad for the man. Kevin had bought him a drink in an attempt to 'make amends for yesterday', and Cornelius hated feeling indebted.

They walked for a while until they entered a suspicious back alley. Kevin stopped and Cornelius ran into him.

"My name is Kevin Howard. You killed my father. Prepare to die!"

Kevin turned around and lunged forward punching Cornelius in the nose. Cornelius stumbled back and fell into the cold cement. He looked up to see his attacker wielding a knife.

"You are just my type, Mr. Wyatt. Too bad you won't be anymore," he smiled, raising his weapon.

The last thing Cornelius saw was a small black shadow, licking at his face. A pitiful meow echoed through the alley, sad enough to elicit a slight twinge of sympathy in Kevin as he walked away.

A note fluttered down onto the corpse's head. "Salutations from General H. Zaroff. Hope you're feeling lively."


End file.
